Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Do The People in Flint Michigan and Gaza Deserve Clean Water?

Water in The Israel Controlled Colony of Gaza

The Terror of Flint’s Poisoned Water

Less than one month after the attacks of Sept. 11, a senior FBI official, Ronald Dick, told the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, “Due to the vital importance of water to all life forms ... the FBI considers all threats to attack the water supply as serious threats.” In 2003, a UPI article reported that an al-Qaida operative “(does not rule out) using Sarin gas and poisoning drinking water in U.S. and Western cities.’” Where the terrorists have failed to mount any attack on a water supply, the Michigan state government has succeeded. In the city of Flint, lead-poisoned water has been piped into homes and offices since 2014, causing widespread illness and potentially permanent brain damage among its youngest residents.

Michigan has one of the most severe “emergency manager” laws in the country, allowing the governor to appoint an unelected agent to take over local governments when those locales or institutions have been deemed to be in a “financial emergency.” Republican Gov. Rick Snyder pushed for and obtained two bills that strengthened the law, and has used it aggressively to impose his version of fiscal austerity on cities like Detroit, Benton Harbor, several large school districts and, now most notoriously, on Flint. In every case but one, the emergency manager has taken over cities that are majority African-American. The emergency manager is granted sweeping powers to override local, democratically elected governments and to make cuts to budgets, sell public property, cancel or renegotiate labor contracts and essentially govern like a dictator.

In April 2014, Darnell Earley, the fourth of five Flint emergency managers appointed by Snyder, unilaterally decided to switch Flint’s water source from Detroit’s water system, with water from Lake Huron that they had been using for 50 years, to the long-contaminated Flint River. Flint residents immediately noticed discoloration and bad smells from the water, and experienced an array of health impacts, like rashes and hair loss. In October 2014, General Motors decided it would no longer use Flint city water in its plants, as it was corroding metal car parts. Later, trihalomethanes, a toxic byproduct of water treatment, were found in the water. Despite that, the water was declared safe by officials. At the same time, as revealed in an email later obtained by Progress Michigan, the state began shipping coolers of clean, potable water to the state office building in Flint. This was more than a year before Gov. Snyder would admit that the water was contaminated.

Ongoing activism by Flint residents whose children were sick attracted the involvement of water researchers from Virginia Tech, who found that 10,000 residents had been exposed to elevated lead levels. It took out-of-state researchers from Virginia to travel all the way to Michigan to conduct the comprehensive tests needed. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha then got involved. She is the director of the pediatric residency program at Hurley Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan State University. She discovered an alarming connection between rising blood lead levels in Flint’s children with the switch to the Flint River as a water source.

“The percentage of children with elevated lead levels doubled in the whole city, and in some neighborhoods, it tripled,” she told us on the “Democracy Now!” news hour. “And it directly correlated with where the water lead levels were the highest.”

Rather than going after the problem she identified, the state went after her. “We were attacked,” she recalled. “I was called an ‘unfortunate researcher,’ that I was causing near hysteria, that I was splicing and dicing numbers, and that the state data was not consistent with my data. And as a scientist ... when the state, with a team of 50 epidemiologists, tells you you’re wrong, you second-guess yourself.” Within weeks, state authorities were forced to admit she was right. Soon after, she was standing at the governor’s side, and has just been appointed to run a new public health initiative to help those exposed to the contamination.

A chorus of Flint residents and allies are demanding immediate action to ensure safe, clean water to the people of Flint. Many are calling for Gov. Snyder to resign, or even to be arrested. The FBI and the Justice Department are now investigating to see if any laws were broken. This week, the House held a hearing on the crisis, during which Houston Congressmember Sheila Jackson Lee compared the poisoning of Flint residents to the 1978 mass suicide and murder in Jonestown, Guyana. There, cult leader Jim Jones ordered his 900 followers, 300 of them children, to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Those victims died instantly. In Flint, the tragedy will unfold over decades.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,300 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan, of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.

The American public has been shocked to discover that the people of Flint, including children, have been being poisoned with lead by their municipal water supply since April of 2014. The questions of who took the decision to draw water from the heavily polluted Flint River, and why, have been fiercely debated in recent months. But one thing seems clear. The Flint public was deprived of an effective voice and had difficulty being heard. In essence, Flint’s population was under colonial rule because its local democratic institutions were sidelined by the state. For similar reasons, the population of Gaza, under Israeli occupation and blockade, is facing a severe water crisis. In both places, local people have been deprived of autonomy, and they face a severe public-health crisis as a result.Michigan has become more and more immune to public input. The state once had a Michigan Water Resources Commission, a Michigan Toxic Substance Control Commission, and a Michigan Environmental Review Board. A Republican governor established the latter in the 1970s to ensure that there would be “a public forum where citizens had standing without hiring a lawyer.” In the 1980s and 1990s Governors James Blanchard and John Engler gutted those commissions and the MERB. Other than the rich, Michiganders lost standing.Then when Governor Rick Snyder came into office, he split the Department of Natural Resources from the Department of Environmental Quality, which had the effect of making the latter more technocratic and less open to public feedback. He also immediately reduced their total funding by nearly 11 percent, telegraphing his lack of interest in things like state water quality. As a matter of political philosophy, the MDEQ was pervaded by a dislike of regulation, so that department officials took a minimalist approach to water purity and disputed any challenge to their consensus that Flint water was just fine.The Michigan Republican Party in 2011 passed the notorious Emergency Manager Law, which allowed the governor effectively to seize control of municipal governments and school boards with budget over-runs, and to appoint an outsider with a charge to impose austerity and fiscal discipline. Michiganders, outraged, struck the law down by a referendum vote in 2012. The Republican majority in the state legislation reinstated the law and forbade further referendum challenges. Critics charged that the law was implemented in a racially invidious manner. By 2013 half of the state’s African-American population was being ruled by the governor’s appointed viceroys. Moreover, the conviction of the emergency managers that there was enough money in some of these communities to provide the governance necessary to residents’ well-being, if only it was properly managed, was misplaced. Austerity is not always compatible with effective police, fire departments, and public health.Snyder’s appointment of a series of emergency managers for Flint took many important decisions out of the hands of local government. While mayors and city councils still existed, they were inclined to go along with EM decisions (their votes were merely symbolic, in any case, since the governor had castrated them politically). And, of course, the EMs themselves answered to the governor’s office. Indeed, at some point in the process of switching from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department-provided water to the Flint River for the city’s water supply, Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz was advised by the MDEQ not to resort to the highly polluted river, and very possibly was over-ruled on this issue by Governor Snyder himself.Local voters, who had had their franchise stolen from them, were incredulous at the idea of drinking Flint River water, having watched GM and other industries dump toxic pollutants into it for decades. But Flint is not a city full of wealthy people, and the cost of drinking only bottled water drove many to make their peace with the foul-smelling tap water. They lost hair, developed rashes, and experienced other obvious symptoms of lead poisoning, and raised these concerns with officials. The emergency managers and the governor turned a deaf ear. It did not help that MDEQ staffers did not insist on the corrosive water’s being treated before being put into ancient lead pipes, and later did a shockingly poor job of testing the water.In spring of 2015, a year into one of the great public-health debacles in American history, the Flint City Council staged a symbolic protest vote in favor of abandoning Flint River water and spending $12 million a year to reconnect with the Detroit Water and Sewage Department. The emergency manager dismissed the demand as incomprehensible. The city council was powerless. Only when physicians and scientists like Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha went public was the governor finally forced to acknowledge the crisis and begin taking steps to address it.

It is clear that both the initial decision making and the subsequent studied dismissal of public and expert concerns derived from a form of colonial government. Flint was being run from Lansing, for the priorities of a Republican governor and legislature suspicious of regulation and convinced that government should be small and inexpensive. They also believe that elected municipal officials (apparently especially if in minority-dominated cities) need oversight because of an innate tendency to irresponsibility.Just as Flint residents were disenfranchised by the Emergency Manager Law and had their access to a basic staple like clean water denied by decisions made by bureaucrats they did not elect, so the Palestinians of Gaza lack the basic rights of citizenship. Israel invaded Gaza and ruled it directly from 1967 to 2005. It still prevents Palestinians from farming one-third of its land, denies it a seaport and an airport, and closely controls building and other materials going into the surrounded territory. Palestinians do not control their land, their water, or the air over their heads.Since 2007, the people of Gaza have been under siege by the Israeli government, which is recognized as the occupation power. The Geneva Convention on the treatment of occupied populations of 1949 were enacted to forestall further crimes of the sort the Axis powers committed in the places they occupied during World War II. The convention makes occupying powers responsible for the health and well-being of the peoples they dominate. The Israeli government’s fiction that it withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and may now treat the small strip and its trapped population as a belligerent independent state, has been repeatedly rejected by the international community. Israel is responsible for the Palestinians of Gaza.

The residents of Gaza would immediately recognize and empathize with the woes of the people of Flint. Over 90 percent of the water in the Strip is undrinkable. Umm Ibrahim Amna Abdel’al complained to RT, “We can’t drink it, cook with it, or wash in the kitchen with it…. We are forced to buy all the clean water separately.” The Israeli assaults, with massive aerial bombardments, of 2008-9 and 2014, did extensive damage to sewage and water pipes and other water infrastructure.In the 2014 Israeli assault, about 12 percent of Gaza’s wells were damaged or ruined in Gaza City, Beit Hanoun, and Deir al-Balah. Some 33,000 meters of water and sewage networks were damaged in Khan Younis and 6300 meters in Gaza City. Raw sewage was unleashed by Israeli bombs onto farmland and into pools and the sea. Broken drinking-water pipes are susceptible to its contamination. Power is often not available to pump water and run the sewage-treatment plants. Israeli restrictions on import of materials necessary to reconstruction have interfered with building and infrastructure repairs. Pipes are so damaged and leaky that even when Israel tried to send in extra water last spring, in accordance with its obligations under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian water system was unable efficiently to deliver it to residents.Salt water is seeping into the water supply, as are nitrates. Nitrate contamination poses a special danger to pregnant women and infants and produces “blue baby syndrome,” interfering with the ability of the child’s blood to carry oxygen. Sodium in water can cause nausea, vomiting, convulsions, and cerebral and pulmonary edema (water on the brain or in the lungs), and can aggravate congestive hear failure in adults. In infants with gastrointestinal infections, whose kidneys do not flush the sodium so effectively from the body, it can cause permanent neurological damage.A UN agency concluded last fall that Gaza, with 1.8 million inhabitants, could be uninhabitable by 2020, in part because of lack of potable water. Were the Palestinians to be forced out of their homes yet again (a majority of families in the Strip were expelled from what is now Israel by Zionist forces in the 1948 war), they certainly would join the tragic stream of refugees heading for Europe over the treacherous Mediterranean.Israeli complaints that Gaza is controlled by the party-militia, Hamas, freely elected in 2006, and that Hamas fires (mostly small, home-made and ineffectual) rockets into Israel, are irrelevant to the requirement that civilian noncombatants in Gaza be provided with basic staples by the occupying authority. Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas militants, but may not do so with reckless disregard for noncombatant life. The international law of occupation requires that, “To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the occupying power must ensure sufficient hygiene and public health standards, as well as the provision of food and medical care to the population under occupation.” Half of the population of Gaza is children, who are not exactly members of or decision-makers in Hamas.The problem for Palestinians is that they are stateless. A people with a state would have a port through which to import reconstruction material. It would have the sovereignty to operate that port. It could set its own development agenda. Its complaints would be heard by local officials capable of acting, whose hands were not tied by distant decision-makers in Tel Aviv.Both in Flint and in Gaza, people are suffering from lack of clean water. In both places, the ultimate crisis is a crisis of democracy and full citizenship. Emergency managers appointed from a distant capital are no more cognizant of local conditions or responsive to popular complaints than are military governors of an occupying Power. Water is too necessary and human life too precious to allow them to be subordinated to other considerations, of abstract political philosophy or forms of exclusive ethnic nationalism. All human beings have a right to clean, free water. Leaders not only fail but discredits themselves when they do not provide a framework allowing the achievement of that goal.

138 comments:

in 1955, before the liberation of the west bank and gaza, when the arabs ruled those lands, the palestinians sought to blow up the main water pipeline that serviced the needs of the jews.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has sponsored an event named after a Palestinian terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of 125 people.

The event, a football tournament, was financially supported by the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and sponsored by the United Nations agency. Palestinian news outlets reported, "The draw for the 19th Prince of Martyrs Khalil Al-Wazir Abu Jihad Football Tournament for youth born in 1996, took place in the Al-Ansar Club offices in Jerusalem. The tournament is organized by the Ansar Al-Quds Club, sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme and funded by the Islamic Development Bank."

After the conclusion of the tournament in late April 2013, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an repeated that the claim of sponsorship by the UNDP it, publishing a picture from the tournament showing the UNDP's logo.

Abu Jihad, otherwise known as Khalil Al-Wazir, was known for the planning of various attacks against civilians, notably the Coastal Road Massacre in 1978 which was led by terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. Terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, among them 12 children.

Among the military operations planned by Abu Jihad are the explosion at the Zohar reservoir in 1955; the operation to blow up the Israeli National Water Carrier in 1965; the operation at the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv, which killed 10 Israelis, in 1975; the blowing up of a truck bomb in Jerusalem in 1975; the killing of Albert Levi and his assistant in Nablus in 1976; the Dalal Mughrabi operation (i.e. bus hijacking), in which more than 37 Israelis were killed in 1978; the shelling of the Eilat Port in 1979; the Katyusha fire on the northern settlements [in Israel] in 1981

AshWed Feb 03, 10:01:00 PM ESTIn general, at least in Canada, the first people populations are looking for rights in addition to what other Canadian citizens have. Palestinians, on the other hand, are trying to achieve the rights Israelis have.

Arab CITIZENS of Israel make up 20% of the population and are full citizens. Now as compared to the USA and Canada who caused literal GENOCIDE against the Indians? The arabs of Israel are a vibrant and substantial population.

As for NON-citizens that do not live inside the state that seek the destruction of the Jewish State? They are not citizens, they have their own elected representatives and national Identity. they have a seat at the UN and are recognized as an independent entity by over 100 nations. They have passports, embassies,ambassadors and billions in aid.

They do not seek citizenship in Israel, they seek to over throw the state and genocide the Jews.

So unlike the 1st peoples, they still have not been defeated to say "uncle".

That is what will have to happen, the complete and utter destruction of the national movement called palestine in order to have peace.

Just is ISIS, the Palestinians are a terror culture, using knives, ied's, tunnels, kidnapping, firebombs, suicide bombers, rockets and other methods of terror on both Jews and their own peoples.

The palestinians murder their own, use human child as shields, have slavery, execute "collaborators", throw their fellow palestinians off of roof tops, honor kill, chain people to motorcycles and drag them to death....

In Lebanon, major Palestinian refugee camps have been utterly destroyed by....... The Lebanese.

In Jordan? The Palestinians are being relegated to the trash heap in society.

In Syria? Assad as actually STARVED to death and bombed to death over 12,000 and cause hundreds of thousand to flee to europe.

In The Palestinians own controlled areas?

CHAOS.

They lost gaza to hamas in an islamic democratic process, one election one time. Now you have a terrorist organization that is on par with ISIS not seeking a national movement but war.

In Judea and Samaria (west bank as named recently) It is ruled by a criminal that also had one election, ONCE and is now in the 11 year of a 4 year term. BILLIONs stolen and the people get shit...

Even thought the Palestinians have gained recognition they have taken steps backwards in actual state building.

The national movement for Palestinians is dead.

As for the ONE state solution? Fine, Caroline Glick supports it.

But the areas of Palestinian control will continue to tumble into anarchy and chaos causing a similar scene that has happened in Yemen, Libya, Iraq and syria. Expect a few hundred thousand palestinians to migrate to europe before this is over.

The problem for Palestinians is that they are stateless. A people with a state would have a port through which to import reconstruction material. It would have the sovereignty to operate that port. It could set its own development agenda. Its complaints would be heard by local officials capable of acting, whose hands were not tied by distant decision-makers in Tel Aviv.

No the problem with gaza is that they are more interested in using the concrete to build terror tunnels than homes, schools and infrastructure.

Gary Johnson: There’s No Room for Libertarians Like Rand Paul in the GOP Presidential Primaries

Rand Paul exited the 2016 GOP presidential race on Wednesday, and now one of his fellow liberty-minded conservatives has a stern message for Republicans.

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who ran for president as a Republican in 2012 before accepting the Libertarian Party’s nomination (and is running for president as a libertarian in 2016), wrote on his blog:

“Rand Paul is the latest to find that there is no room for the Liberty Movement in today’s Republican nominating process. I’ve been there. With his departure from the presidential race, there is no voice remaining to challenge failed military interventions, mass surveillance of Americans by their government, or real cuts in the size and cost of government.

Sen. Paul and I have some differences on issues, but he was the one candidate on the Republican side who was not afraid to talk about civil liberties, the perils of endless war, and the principles of liberty. His departure leaves a great many voters, especially among America’s youth, without a home in the two ‘major’ parties. To them, I say, come be Libertarian with me.

Rand Paul is to be commended for waging the good fight, and I look forward to his continued work for small government and greater freedom in the U.S. Senate.”

On Tuesday, Wendy Davis, another national “feminist icon,” sent out a completely crazed pro-Hillary/post-Iowa tweet. You might remember Davis as the Democratic media darling who got creamed in the last Texas gubernatorial race, and who now serves as a slightly unhinged full-time abortion enthusiast, because today’s feminists don’t seem to choose their icons very well. I won't quote Davis’s tweet because it contains the f-bomb, but please know it was written in all capital letters, as most rational thoughts are. It also praises a now-viral feminist Internet rant, which includes the following quote:

“I'M NOT SAYING THERE AREN'T REASONS SOMEONE SHOULD DISLIKE HILLARY OR PREFER BERNIE. THAT IS FINE. THAT IS YOUR JOURNEY. BUT LET'S NOT PRETEND FOR A SECOND THAT THERE WOULD BE *THIS MANY* ISSUES WITH HILLARY IF SHE WAS A [SWEAR WORD] MAN….AND THE THING IS--I LIKE BERNIE! EVERYONE LIKES BERNIE! BECAUSE CRAZY GRANDPA IS TOTALLY ELECTABLE BUT CRAZY GRANDMA NEVER COULD BE. BUT WHY DO WE HAVE TO HATE HER TO SHOW HOW MUCH WE LOVE HIM? SOCIALIST JESUS TAKE THE [F-WORD] WHEEL.”

Well. That seems reasonable. Lest you think we’re lost in the wilds of Political Fringeville, population 2, let’s move to a more mainstream outlet. Here’s Rebecca Traister, writing in New York magazine...

Sanders got 84% of the under 30 vote but Hillary won the Senior vote and is running away with the batshit crazy feminist vote. Wendy Davis reminds me of those nuts who claim any criticism of Obama is driven by racism. Same argument, different identity politics.

My family gave the land for the first deep artesian well in Moscow, Idaho. I know a lot about the water system there. This water is 20,000 years old and seeps from the mountains from the snows and ice of the last ice age.

Does anyone here have any idea how much it costs to develop and maintain such a system ?

Free ?

Somebody has to pay for it.

********

Someone at Fox just described Cruz as being 'too nasal' to be President. :)

Do I agree with that !

I can't stand the sounds of that sleezeoids voice any longer, always blah blahing about Jesus....

While Hugh Fitzgerald isn't speaking of the divisions in Islam here - I assure you he knows all about it - this article does show he knows what he's talking about concerning Islam, the Moslems, and history -

Swedish church to collect funds to build mosqueBy Robert Spencer on Feb 03, 2016 11:05 pmSwedish church to collect funds to build mosqueHow wonderful. How sweet and charitable and generous and loving. Maybe the Muslims who go to this mosque once it is built will look upon their Christian neighbors with gratitude, and treat them kindly. More likely, however, they will see the Christians’ generosity as their due, since the Qur’an commands Muslims to fight against the […]Read in browser »

Obama at Islamic Society of Baltimore: “Muslim Americans keep us safe”The apotheosis of the Muslim victimhood myth. FBI hate crime statistics show that the hysteria over “Islamophobia” is unfounded, but that matters not at all to Barack Obama. “Obama rebuts anti-Muslim rhetoric in first U.S. mosque visit,” by Kevin Liptak, PJ Media, February 3, 2016: (CNN)Seeking to rebut what he views as perilous election-year bombast […]Read in browser »

Some 1,300 hotels have been put up for sale in various Turkish resorts as economic problems, terrorist attacks and the crisis in relations with Russia are felt in the tourist sector, Turkish media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — With over 400 hotels for sale in the tourist capital Antalya, Turkey's tourist industry has descended into one of its worst crises in history after the number of Russian tourists visiting the country dwindled and increasing terrorist attacks left the country's security weakened, the Turkish Zaman newspaper reported.

Turkey is facing a shortfall of nearly 4.5 million Russian tourists this year, causing Turkey's tourism industry to miss out on some $4.5 billion in lost revenues, according to Aegean Touristic Enterprises and Lodging Association (ETHICS) Chairman Mehmet Isler, as quoted by the newspaper.

European tourists, mainly from Germany, have changed their preferences to Greek resorts, he added, citing the "propaganda" of the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey as covered by the European media as the reason for this trend.

ATHENS, Greece - Services across Greece ground to a halt Thursday as workers joined in a massive general strike that canceled flights, ferries and public transport, shut down schools, courts and pharmacies, and left public hospitals with emergency staff.

Are the Republicans in the Congress all Muslims, or just Islamic sympathizers?

New York Times - WASHINGTON - President Obama is being pressed by some of his top national security aides to approve the use of American military power in Libya to open up another front against the Islamic State.

Majority of Americans do not want their next president to criticise Islam

A majority of Americans believe that the next US President should be careful and not criticize Islam as a whole when speaking about Islamic extremists.

...... while many Americans were concerned about Islamic extremism, most people think that the problem with violence committed in the name of religion has more to do with the people than with the religion.

Goodness no, rathole, we shouldn't criticize Islam as a whole, that perfect apartheid system, where if one is not a Moslem one is a dhimmi, where if you leave the 'religion' you are subject to the death penalty, where women are one half a human being, where the call is made to subjugate the entire world, where the only law is Sharia Law, and where human creativity is stifled.

Goodness no, we must not piss the savages off.

If the majority of Americans believe this they are idiots and our country is in deep do-do.

John Ellis Bush (Jeb! for short) isn’t trying to figure out what’s smart and what’s stupid to say. He seems pretty genuine. Speaking from the heart. And the stupidity just keeps on coming.

For those who thought it was pathetic when Jeb! recently asked his tiny audience to clap (“please clap”) as he shuffled around making uninspiring statements, it turns out that was just the warm up act.

Yesterday Jeb! was happy, happy, happy about Obama’s recent visit to a mosque and ! (for even shorter, as he diminishes himself) gushed with enthusiasm for Muslims. During an interview on the Hugh Hewitt show, ! said he had not yet listened to Obama’s speech (a speech Hewitt gushed over), but was happy about it, nonetheless. Breitbart reports:

If it was a good speech, I’m happy, because I think it’s important for the president to lead in this regard. And my brother did it much earlier in his tenure than Barack Obama’s done it in the eighth year. And I’m not quite sure he avoided doing this, but it was appropriate to do it. And sometimes, you have to give someone credit for a job well done. I haven’t seen the speech, but it’s important. Look, when you have a candidate for president that says we’re going to ban all Muslims coming into the country, the implications of that are horrific as it relates to our national security. But it also sends a signal to the millions of peaceful Muslims that are as American as you and I. And I think it’s important for people to know that they have worth, that they have value, that we’re all, you know, we’re all American. And we should target our energies to defeat radical Islam and the radicalization of people. We need to be kept safe, but you can do that by being respectful of people of the Muslim faith as well.

Say what?

He’s happy “if it was a good speech.” Really? How incredibly naïve, pandering, stupid, and clueless. (And that’s being generous.)

! hadn’t “seen the speech,” nevertheless “it’s important.” Again: really? Why? What was the “important” part? The part when Obama said that Muslim Americans keep us safe?

I don’t mean to misrepresent Obama. When he said Muslims keep us safe, he was referring to Muslims who work in the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies.

Hmm. Still not feeling the safety thing.

But back to !.

Did he think the speech was “good” and “important” because Obama claimed that “Muslims have been a part of America since our nation’s founding?” (Of course, technically, that’s true if you consider the Barbary Pirates, but I don’t think that’s what Obama was talking about.)

Or maybe ! thought it was incredibly important that Obama rambled on at a mosque, expressing sympathy for the ever-(faux) victimized Muslim (all-the-while engaging in a weird repetitive movement of his tongue against the inside of his lips).

! was also eager to paint Muslim Americans as patriotic folks like “you and I.” Excuse me, but I prefer not to be lumped in with a group whose religious book is a totalitarian doctrine that demands the demise of every single non-Muslim in America, and around the world. And it really ticks me off when ! insisted that we respect “people of the Muslim faith.” Again. Sorry, but that “faith” mandates world domination. There is a cut off beyond which respect is not given. I’d say, that’s the cut off. But maybe that’s just me.

Former President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday he would take Donald Trump over Ted Cruz to occupy the White House were he forced to choose.

Appearing at Britain's House of Lords Wednesday afternoon, the 39th president surprisingly said he would take Trump over Cruz because of his ability to strike a deal and because many of his positions are not set in stone — as Cruz's are comparably.

"I think I would choose Trump, which may surprise some of you," Carter said when asked who he'd prefer for the GOP nomination.

"The reason is, Trump has proven already he's completely malleable," Carter explained. "I don't think he has any fixed [positions] he'd go the White House and fight for. On the other hand, Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far-right wing policies he'd pursue if he became president."

I’ve yet to see a good headline featuring Black Lives Matter spokesperson DeRay Mckesson which wasn’t good for a chuckle in some form or another. This week is no exception as we learn that the former middle school substitute teacher has tossed his hat in the ring to replace Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as the Mayor of Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun)

In a surprise move, civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson jumped into the already crowded contest for Baltimore mayor Wednesday night, shaking up the Democratic field minutes before the deadline to file.

“Baltimore is a city of promise and possibility,” the Black Lives Matter member told The Baltimore Sun. “We can’t rely on traditional pathways to politics and the traditional politicians who walk those paths if we want transformational change.”

He said he planned to release a platform within a week. He said it would include a call for internal school system audits to be made public.

DeRay joins an already crowded field hoping for a lucrative government job. Plenty of people are hoping to win the Democrat primary (which is essentially the general election in Baltimore since they would never consider electing a Republican, presumably because things have gone so well under the Democrats) and the field includes Sheila Dixon. In case you don’t recall that name, she’s the former mayor who Rawlings-Blake replaced after she was convicted of embezzlement. But hey… let’s not let a little thing like that stop us from giving her a second look, right? The field also includes Nick J. Mosby. If that name sounds familiar it’s because he’s the husband of Marilyn Mosby, the woman who has done such a bang up job of prosecuting her own city’s police officers in the Freddie Gray case.

DeRay should be a good fit in this crowd. After all, he’s a lecturer at Yale who teaches a course featuring reading material such as, The Problem of Whiteness. When you fold that in with a career as a substitute teacher and regular feature on MSNBC talking about rioting, you have a world class resume of someone prepared to take on the massive budget challenges of a nearly bankrupt city and the social unrest which regularly threatens to see it burned to the ground. He’s also been a resident of Baltimore “for several months” now so he’s got the favorite son thing going for him. And how would DeRay deal with the whole police situation?

Mckesson, 30, a Baltimore native and former public school administrator here and in Minnesota, is part of a team called Campaign Zero, which seeks to end police killings in America. The group wants to end “broken windows” policing, increase community oversight of police and limit use of force, among other goals.

In case you’re wondering how the race is shaping up so far, the aforementioned embezzler, Sheila Dixon, has a significant lead in the polls. And why not? This is, after all, Baltimore.

Appalling to think that the U.S. supports and enables and permits this kind of behavior, in Gaza and in Flint:

Israeli planes have reportedly sprayed chemical substances on farmlands across the besieged Gaza Strip, killing off the crops in the already impoverished Palestinian territory.

Several farmers informed that Israeli planes had sprayed their lands with pesticides, in the area between (Kissufim, and Srij) east of al-Qarara village, northeast of Khan Younis, according to Al Ray correspondence.

Witnesses pointed out that the Israeli occupation aircraft were spraying pesticides inside the border fence, and were hovering on low level .

The continuing Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is putting the lives of people at risk, taking a heavy toll on the enclave’s agriculture sector.

Farmers are struggling to meet growing demands of 1.8 million Gazans who are living in the tight grip of the Israeli siege. They face many challenges due to shortages in farming equipment and more importantly, approved pesticides.

Due to the decline in production and Israel’s ban on the entry of basic commodities, Gazan farmers have resorted to the use of banned chemical substances to maximize crop yield. This poses a serious health hazard to both farmers and their consumers.Meanwhile, the United Nations has expressed concerns over the excessive use of toxic pesticides by Gaza farmers.Many medical experts in Gaza are worried about a rise in the number of registered Gazan cancer patients, especially in the agricultural areas.

They warn that children are more susceptible to diseases, such as leukemia, than adults in such regions.

After clearing away villages and farms within 3 to 5 kilometers of its border with Gaza, Egypt on Monday embarked on the second stage of its plan to protect itself from Hamas terrorists and tunnel smugglers – the construction of a medieval-style moat around Gaza.

Last October, Egypt conducted its own “disengagement,” forcing residents of villages close to the Gaza border to move on. Plagued by smugglers who have transported contraband, drugs, and weapons back and forth between Gaza and Sinai for years, the underground tunnels between Sinai and Gaza have recently become a major security concern for Egypt. Hamas, which controls Gaza, is a loyal ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that the government of Egyptian President Sisi has been battling.

Brotherhood terrorists, running rampant in Sinai, have killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers and ruined Egypt's tourism business, as they conduct a reign of terror in Sinai in an effort to restore their dominance in the country, which was put to a sudden halt when A-Sisi led the army in a coup against Brotherhood-affiliated former President Mohammed Morsi.

Now, Egypt is increasing its defenses in Sinai – by building a 20 meter deep moat around Gaza. The moat, officials expect, will prevent tunnels from being built, as Gaza tunnel diggers will be unable to dig deep enough to go under the moat. The moat will be filled with seawater from the Mediterranean.

Even though Egypt controls what 10% of the Gazan border while Israel controls the rest you argue that it is actually Egypt that is running the prison. Now, if you want to argue that Egypt and Israel are co-managers of the prison that's fine with me. Let's just not be silly.

Your argument the other day that Egypt is responsible for Gaza is ludicrous. You argue Israel owns the WB bank because they conquered it. Then you argue that Egypt is responsible for Gaza even though Israel was the last to conquer it. You talk out of both sides of your mouth and will say whatever it takes whether it makes sense or not, whether your arguments are consistent or not.

The truth is Israel wants the WB. They do not want Gaza, it's too much of a headache. As I said yesterday, Israel's direction is set. If they can live with the consequences good on them.

As for Sisi's claims that it is the MB that is causing his problems in the Sinai those also are suspect. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis previously affiliated with al Queda and now vowing allegiance to ISIS have claimed responsibility for the major attacks in Sinai. Most independent sources say it is ISIS. The MB has denied any responsibility.

"Even though Egypt controls what 10% of the Gazan border while Israel controls the rest you argue that it is actually Egypt that is running the prison. Now, if you want to argue that Egypt and Israel are co-managers of the prison that's fine with me. Let's just not be silly."

Door on homes are less than 10% of there outline. Would you argue that walls are doors?

I think not.

Let's look at this diddy...

"Your argument the other day that Egypt is responsible for Gaza is ludicrous. You argue Israel owns the WB bank because they conquered it. Then you argue that Egypt is responsible for Gaza even though Israel was the last to conquer it. You talk out of both sides of your mouth and will say whatever it takes whether it makes sense or not, whether your arguments are consistent or not."

"Your argument the other day that Egypt is responsible for Gaza is ludicrous."

Hardly. It's Egypt's responsibility as the nation that caused all the crap in the 1st place. It was conquered FROM Egypt in 1956 because Egypt was using it as a forward base to launch attacks on Israel by using the arabs that were there.

Israel conquered and relinquished the strip the the PA, fully, in complete compliance with the UN. It was Hamas that staged a military coup and murdered the PA, it was Hamas that thru out the european inspectors.

Gaza is Egypt's to own. Not israel.

Now on to your best line of the day: "You argue Israel owns the WB bank because they conquered it."

Could you post anywhere I have said that?

I say, and will repeat, those areas that Israel has conquered should be part of Israel. Those areas.... See quirk, you need to read what is written not what you wish I wrote.

Israel has no plans to annex the majority of Judea and Samaria, the vast majority of HISTORIC JEWISH LANDS have been cited to the arabs for peace. Israel does not control, occupy or manage the vast majority of palestinians. Nor does it wish to.

Now if the palestinians wish to go INTO Israel? Work there? They have to go thru check points just like Americans seeking to go to Canada.

Door on homes are less than 10% of there outline. Would you argue that walls are doors?

I think not.

That is the stupidest analogy I have ever heard. If Egypt cuts off its 10% of the border it merely does on a smaller scale what Israel does with its 90% of the border. In fact, Israel's percentage is even more than that as they control the air and sea access to and from Gaza.

Israel conquered and relinquished the strip the the PA, fully, in complete compliance with the UN.

More nonsense. Only a fool would actually believe such a thing. Israel moved its troops out of Gaza. In no way did it give up control over Gaza. In fact it increased it through the use of checkpoints, no man's land, guard towers, control of the sea and the air, complete control of egress and ingress of both people and material, cutting off goods and services whenever they want for punishment or for political reasons. Open your eyes.

Gaza is Egypt's to own. Not israel.

That ship has long passed. Why would Egypt (or Jordan for that matter in the WB) take it back and accept all the problems. No, Israel has occupied those territories for almost 50 years. There is no going back. Whatever Israel decides to do they will have to live with the consequences.

Now on to your best line of the day: "You argue Israel owns the WB bank because they conquered it."

Could you post anywhere I have said that?

I say, and will repeat, those areas that Israel has conquered should be part of Israel. Those areas.... See quirk, you need to read what is written not what you wish I wrote.

I'm sorry. Your nuance is beyond me. I just don't see the difference between what you said and what I said.

Israel has no plans to annex the majority of Judea and Samaria, the vast majority of HISTORIC JEWISH LANDS have been cited to the arabs for peace. Israel does not control, occupy or manage the vast majority of palestinians. Nor does it wish to.

Damn, WiO, I thought your analogy was bizarre but this statement takes the cake.

Quirk: That is the stupidest analogy I have ever heard. If Egypt cuts off its 10% of the border it merely does on a smaller scale what Israel does with its 90% of the border. In fact, Israel's percentage is even more than that as they control the air and sea access to and from Gaza.

Dont make fun of what you cannot understand.

It the actual fact is simple. The border that Egypt and Gaza share is artificial. Rafa is split in half. there is no Israeli/Gaza city that is split.

Your actual knowledge of the relationships is amazing small.

Egypt and the strip are entwined deeply, the clans of gaza are on both sides of the egyptian border. There are no arabs living on the israeli side of the gaza/israel border. It is a hostile border.

More nonsense. Only a fool would actually believe such a thing. Israel moved its troops out of Gaza. In no way did it give up control over Gaza. In fact it increased it through the use of checkpoints, no man's land, guard towers, control of the sea and the air, complete control of egress and ingress of both people and material, cutting off goods and services whenever they want for punishment or for political reasons. Open your eyes.

Sorry quirk a simple point. IF israel was in control of gaza? There would be no billion dollars spent of terror tunnels, hundreds of thousands of hamas members under arms, and a 100,000 ROCKETs being made, stored and USED in Gaza.

"Israel has no plans to annex the majority of Judea and Samaria, the vast majority of HISTORIC JEWISH LANDS have been cited to the arabs for peace. Israel does not control, occupy or manage the vast majority of palestinians. Nor does it wish to."

Auto corrected changed my word from ceded to cited.

Israel has given away the majority of Judea and Samaria (it's historic lands) for peace. The west bank, the overwhelming amount, about 95% is abandoned by Israel to it's enemies the arabs. The lands its' seeks for it's own? is less than 5% of the west bank.

Go back and read the Oslo accords. Check out areas A, B, and C, their size and who has administrative and military control in each. Israel has given up nothing. They never have. All the so called peace conferences, Camp David, the Oslo Accords, you name it, have ever come up with are agreements to negotiate or to set up guidelines for negotiations. There has never been anything else but talk. That's it nothing else. If the PA controlled anything, Israel wouldn't be tearing down Palestinian homes that have been in the territories since well before 1948.

The only realistic offer presented to the Palestinians came from Olmert and and it wasn't in writing and three days after offering it he resigned due to corruption charges. When Bibi came in he disavowed anything having to do with the agreement.

"Israel has no plans to annex the majority of Judea and Samaria

I won't argue with you on this point. If you actually believe it, fine. However, IMO, there is no way the Palestinians will be given their own state especially given the policies of the current right wing government, the move right of the Israeli population, and the deference given to right wing settler and religious groups. It's naive to think otherwise.

Sorry quirk a simple point. IF israel was in control of gaza? There would be no billion dollars spent of terror tunnels, hundreds of thousands of hamas members under arms, and a 100,000 ROCKETs being made, stored and USED in Gaza.

Again, I disagree. It's much easier and cheaper for Israel to block all entrance and exit to and from Gaza and to go in occasionally and mow the grass than it would be to accept the cost for administration and security of the territory. Sharon wasn't trying to do the Palestinians any favors when he pulled his people out of Gaza, he was trying to save a buck and the lives of Israelis.

As for the tunnels, it is not unusual for tunnels to be dug in prisons and Gaza is the biggest prison around.

As for Rafah, Egypt announced plans a year ago to raise Rafah to the ground and relocate their people to a new location. They started demolition all along the border there a year ago with the idea of constructing a no-man's land. Didn't you just put up a post talking about them putting up a moat?

As for the Rafah crossing, Egypt handles it the same way Israel handles theirs. You never know when it will be open. Sisi closed it completely after he took over from the MB and more recently after the Islamist attacks in the Sinai. There are some rumors that it might be opened again but no official word from the government.

And even when it was open, at least in the past, visas were required and the only ones allowed to leave were for medical emergencies or for people with foreign passports (the same as Israel). And even after you got out you never knew when you could get back in as the crossing was often closed for a month or more with no explanation given.

Like I say if you want to say that Egypt has as much responsibility as Israel for the fact that Gaza is a prison, I won't argue.

Israel is often blamed for all woes befalling the Palestinian Arabs. One of the favorite accusations is that Israel takes most of the region’s water for its Jewish citizens, while leaving the Arabs with far too little of this precious resource.

But a Hamas-run newspaper recently featured an investigative report revealing that the water crisis in Gaza, at least, cannot be blamed on the Jewish state, after all.

In surveying the agricultural lands abandoned in the wake of Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, the Al-Risalah newspaper found that today’s Palestinian farmers were using up to six times more water than the previous Jewish tenants.

In the areas encompassing the former Gaza Jewish communities, a total of 20 wells had been dug up until 2005 to tap into the area’s water table. These wells pumped an average of 20–30 cubic meters of water per hour for use by the Jewish farmers and their villages.

The Hamas publication reported that there are now, since the departure of the Jews, no fewer than 110 wells in the area pumping anywhere between 120–200 cubic meters of water per hour.

Considering these figures, is it any wonder Gaza’s water table is in serious danger of becoming unusable?

He should stick to calling him dishonest. I got a personal example yesterday.

I got a fundraising letter from Cruz yesterday, first one I've received from anyone in 20 years or so. Cruz must have figured after all that time I would be prime for one of those scams they run on the elderly.

The outside of the envelope read, "Check Inside". Obviously, knowing that Cruz wouldn't be sending me money but wondering what the scam was, I opened the envelope.

Inside was a check. Made out to Cruz. He SAID that I could double my donation to him by writing out my personal check and then filling in the same dollar amount on the enclosed check which was a draw on some PAC.

Voters sign in before the Democratic presidential caucus at Simpson Barn in Johnston Monday, February 1, 2016. Brenna Norman/For The Register

Once again the world is laughing at Iowa. Late-night comedians and social media mavens are having a field day with jokes about missing caucusgoers and coin flips.

That’s fine. We can take ribbing over our quirky process. But what we can’t stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error.

What happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. Democracy, particularly at the local party level, can be slow, messy and obscure. But the refusal to undergo scrutiny or allow for an appeal reeks of autocracy.

The Iowa Democratic Party must act quickly to assure the accuracy of the caucus results, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

First of all, the results were too close not to do a complete audit of results. Two-tenths of 1 percent separated Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. A caucus should not be confused with an election, but it’s worth noting that much larger margins trigger automatic recounts in other states........

No, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, it would provide an umbrella for US producers.

Helping the US to gain energy independence.

Most US producers are profitable at the $40 dollar per barrel level and not at all at $30.

So the price of oil in the US would be $40 pr barrel., or there about ...The US would garner revenue through tariffs, the way prescribed in the Constitution and US producers would be protected from predatory Muslim pricing.

So, the economic policy that would actually hurt the Wahabbi radicals and the Iranians, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson is against.

"But data from the state of North Dakota says the average cost per barrel in America’s top oil-producing state is only $42 — to make a 10% return for rig owners. In McKenzie County, which boasts 72 of the state’s 188 oil rigs, the average production cost is just $30, the state says. Another 27 rigs are round $29."

The Islamic State is based upon territory, not troop numbers.The Caliphate is shrinking in size, the bombing is contributing to that shrinkage.

Once the Caliphate is reduced to nothing, the remaining terrorists will disperse.The only thing that will stop the ISIS terrorists from dispersing is destroying them in place, by locals who know them. As happened in Ramadi

Which creates another challenge, but there always is another challenge

The ground in Libya was not gained by the Islamic State, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.The al-Qeada factions that already controlled that territory, the factions that Colonel Q was in conflict with, merely lowered the al-Qeada standard and raised the Islamic State flag.

Nothing really changed. Because al-Qeada is the foundation of the Islamic State.

Saudi Arabia has offered for the first time to send ground troops to Syria to fight Islamic State, its defence ministry said on Thursday.

“The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against Isis) may agree to carry out in Syria,” said military spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri during an interview with al-Arabiya TV news.

Saudi sources told the Guardian that thousands of special forces could be deployed, probably in coordination with Turkey.

Right, Saudi cannot even deal with Yemen, so they will add nothing to the fight against ISIS.

They will not even field real fighting forces.

300,000, or more, troops are needed to deal with ISIS in Iraq, Syria, Libya....

Good luck with that.

Good luck with the bombing of bed down positions, an occasional drone strike...

Good luck, cause that's all the anti-ISIS folk have, is luck, and the odds are long, and only a fool would place a bet on the outcome being against ISIS, because there aren't going to be 300,000 troops.

"Our troops will continue to advance without losing a yard of territory"

More than 150,000 trained and equipped fighters in pro-government militias have become an indispensable brace for a Syrian army beleaguered by well over four years of intractable conflict.

"There are more than 25 main militias of different sizes that fight alongside the Syrian army" and number between 150,000 and 200,000 men, a security source told AFP.

The Syrian Army has approximately 150,000 men in the ranks

18,000 troops have been trained in Iraq for their reconstituted forceThe Shiite and Kurdish militias could field at least another 30,000.

While, in the mean time your premise that the Islamic State strength is unchanged is wrong, as well

A new intelligence assessment shows the size of the Islamic State force is shrinking in Iraq and Syria — but growing in Libya, a defense official said.

The new estimate for the number of fighters for the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is between 19,000 and 25,000 in Iraq and Syria, down from prior figures ranging from 20,000 to possibly more than 30,000http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/02/04/new-intel-shows-isis-force-declining-iraq-syria/79819744/

Then, if the Sunni militias are brought into the fold ...So we built the first and seventh Iraqi army divisions, and we increased the police from about 5,000 to almost 28,000 in that year. And that was the Sons of Anbar.

...

By the end of the year, al-Qaeda leaders admitted that their forces throughout Iraq had been decimated by over 70 percent, from 12,000 to 3,500.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.